- Laura
Sausage, Potato and Spinach Soup
Technically some of you may call this Zuppa Toscana but once I'm done with recreating a recipe I'm not sure if that's what we have here anymore. I went looking to create this recipe after realizing I had some Italian sausage I didn't want to use in spaghetti, some russet potatoes I needed to cook, and a huge box of spinach that didn't quite all get used in smoothies.
I also wanted to create this after some good memories at Olive Garden this past year. You heard that right. Olive Garden has become our somewhat healthy road trip food, especially when you've been driving long enough to not want fast food and really want soup and salad, forget the calorie count. We always ordered lots of both and felt like our bodies were a bit more full of vegetables after.
On to the soup. This recipe makes a lot. I always like to have leftovers and I also always like to stretch a meat in a recipe. You could double the sausage, but you then may not have enough room for the broth so just be aware of that. We ate this for lunch yesterday and the leftovers are dinner tonight. This with some bread and salad and we'll be good!
I start most all soups with onion, celery and carrots which may be where I started heading down a different path than traditional zuppa tosacana, but I love the taste of all these things in soup and can't help myself. I also used beef bone broth I had made but you can easily use regular beef, chicken or vegetable broth. When it comes to seasoning, season as you go with salt and pepper. This soup can handle it and you'll know how salty your family will want it.
Sure, you could add milk instead of heavy cream, but here's a case where I think heavy cream has it's place. It's made for soups and pasta's when you want that extra creamy texture. I will say the soup separated once the leftovers were placed in the fridge, but it came back together just fine when reheated. I may have had an "appetizer bowl" before sitting down to type this, just to verify for you guys that it was still yummy.
Don't have spinach? Add Kale. Don't have potatoes? Add beans. Once you get the hang of soups it's a good staple. I think soup may need to hit our meal planning each Sunday so we have some good lunches in the days ahead, and then maybe again on Thursday when I'm too tired for a big cooking day on Friday.
Finally- here's the recipe!
Sausage, Potato and Spinach Soup
1 package sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (about 5 links)
1 onion, chopped
3-4 carrots, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 T Italian seasoning
1 t dried oregano
3 T butter
2 T flour
10 cups beef broth
3-4 russet potatoes, peed and cubed
2 cups heavy cream
2-3 hand fulls of fresh spinach or one small bag
To start, remove the casings from your sausage and crumble in a large dutch oven until cooked through. Sausage already has a lot of seasoning and flavor which is great for the soup!
With a slotted spoon remove the cooked sausage and cook your onion, celery and carrots in the sausage grease. Season with salt and pepper. Add your Italian seasoning and oregano.
Once the vegetables are tender, about 5-8 minutes, add the butter and melt, then add in your flour to help thicken things.
Add in your beef broth and then the potatoes. Bring to a boil and then simmer about 10 minutes of until the potatoes are fork tender.
On simmer add back your sausage and add in your heavy cream and the spinach. Allow the spinach to wilt. Check the soup for seasoning and enjoy warm!
If you make it, would you let me know?! Either tag me @lbsgoodspoon or #lbsgoodspoon so I can see!